In that case why not give WinDev a good look. It is pricey but it is an odd combination of low-code and full code features. And it can target Windows, Linux, Mac OS.
It has three versions.
WinDev for building Desktop apps
WebDev for building Web sites and apps
WinDev Mobile for creating native apps for Android, iOS and Windows Mobile OS
Do a nice, very nice, and simple User Interface. Don’t waste your time, but the eye too must have good feeling.
Some features can be created and tested in its own project, and once you’re really happy with it, incorporate it into the main project. [faster to run and debug]
@YogiYang, the WinDev / WebDev documentation/guides are next-level. For example the 256 page, WebDev Concepts pdf leaves no question unanswered. I haven’t used the environment but get where you are coming from.
The use guide is just to get you started with WinDev. It hardly took me 2 days to complete it from start to finish.
WinDev is probably the most complete development tool that I have seen.
It has everything that one will expect in a descent tool.
Database connectivity and support for own proprietary database engine
Built in database management so one can define table, set relations, etc. right inside the IDE
Query Builder to build SQL queries visually and test them right in the IDE
Powerful language with very large set of built in functions
Automatic UI checker which can suggest changes to your UI and also offer to automatically make those changes
In code if one changes name of a variable the IDE will offer to rename the variable across your current code section so that you do not have to copy/paste variable name where ever it is referenced
In the same way if one changes a control’s name the IDE will offer to update the control name everywhere the said control is accessed in code
Can generate data entry screens by allowing user to drag and drop fields from Database Explorer (something similar to what VB offers)
Application theming so make apps build in it look attractive
Version control for versioning Windows layout as well as code and it also maintains version of Database structure
Facility to copy/paste a control with all the code attached to its events
It, and FreeBasic, are actually fairly impressive. I like that FreeBasic obeys C calling conventions so you can link a FreeBasic lib into a C program, for example.
I rather like VisualFBEEditor also (GitHub - XusinboyBekchanov/VisualFBEditor: IDE for FreeBasic) although it lacks MacOS support it looks fairly solid with Windows and Linux, and has a debugger, with new releases every few months. OTOH it appears to be a one man project. OTOH there’s a screen shot of an Android project being worked on, though it is not an actual advertised / supported project type I suppose that if you intimately know Android development you can tie into it, probably by linking FreeBasic object files.
Will this be something I investigate? Right now I’m learning C and building some proof of concepts out in that language, so eventually I might tie into something like FreeBasic and/or WinDev and/or VisualFBEEditor for parts of what I want to do. I particularly like that I could fork Visual FBEEditor and fix bugs myself, lol. It has in fact been forked quite a few times already.
The English version is coming up in Chrome today (more specifically, the Brave variant). They seem a little bit coy about MacOS support. In your message the tagline omits MacOS (“Develop once, recompile for the desired platform: Windows, Linux, Web, iOs, Android”. The home page says “Windows, Linux & .NET Development”. Following one of the links it now claims “creates applications for Windows, Linux & Mac”. This probably just reflects that they don’t have a competent copy writer / editor or a coherent branding strategy but also it makes you wonder if it’s a little like Xojo, where some platforms are, shall we say, aspirational / marketing claims more than reality.
I’d be interested in an impartial review from someone who has used it for serious work and isn’t a mindless fanboy. I’m open. But I have to be convinced.
That will be the best way to wet your feet and test the richness of a development tool that is unmatched in features by any other development tool in the market.
Actually I would not suggest you to replace existing project in Xojo with WinDev rather I would suggest you to add one more tool to your arsenal and use it for creating new projects.
Except for the investment in Xojo support libraries and objects.
I’m in the position of having built just one Xojo app with no 3rd party libs and minimalist smattering of custom libs/classes that could easily be rewritten, so I will certainly consider WinDev, although my intuition is that it has as many problems and annoyances as Xojo for my purposes. Even assuming for the sake of argument that it doesn’t have Xojo’s weird little idiosyncrasies or something equivalent, and assuming its web and mobile deployments are far more mature, it’s a French company with mostly only machine-translated docs and support in English, and that right there is a significant annoyance. Also it appears to use some sort of proprietary language which, if it’s well designed and sufficiently performant, doesn’t bother me but will inhibit its acceptance in the corporate world, even if for arguably debatable reasons.
I used to be one of those “corporate world” gate keepers
The only time it REALLY mattered was in cases where there was a work for hire done and source code delivery was part of the contract
And I can only think of one other time it was a package that source code was obtained - in escrow - so it could be examined to know how to create applications to interface with it.
That was a giant “enterprise” accounting application and the fee for the code was “significant”